Physical Society Colloquium

Interview for Faculty Position

Time Dependent String Theory and Matrix Models

Joanna Karczmarek

Harvard University

Many of the challenges facing string theory today share the feature of nontrivial time dependence. These include the treatment of cosmological evolution, and of decay of unstable object, including black holes. String theory currently lacks a coherent understanding of how time dependent scenarios should be treated. I will describe a simple, solvable toy model: the two-dimensional Liouville string theory, and my attempts to study time dependence within its framework.